JD Vance hosts Greensboro town hall in final sprint to Election Day. Follow along here.

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Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has been no stranger to North Carolina in the past few months.

And now, just 25 days from the election, Vance will be speaking at a town hall at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, further highlighting the pivotal role battleground state North Carolina will play this November.

Topics he’s expected to focus on are the economy, illegal immigration and Hurricane Helene. Parking opened at 9 a.m. and doors opened at 3:30 p.m.

The program begins at 5 p.m. with Danica Patrick, a former professional race car driver and a model, moderating. Patrick has endorsed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Details on any other speakers have not yet been released.

Vance was last in North Carolina in late September, when he spoke to supporters in Charlotte and was asked about the Trump campaign’s past support for the GOP gubernatorial candidate, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Trump had previously endorsed Robinson.

CNN reported in mid-September that Robinson allegedly made a series of sexually graphic, racist, homophobic and antisemitic posts on a pornographic message board about a decade ago.

“What (Robinson) said or didn’t say is ultimately between him and the people of North Carolina,” Vance told a reporter at the event in at Central Piedmont Community College, The Charlotte Observer reported. After the news about Robinson came out, The Trump campaign released a statement that did not mention Robinson, but instead said that Trump “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country.” Greensboro is Robinson’s hometown.

But since the CNN news broke, a lot has changed in North Carolina. Much of the conversation centers on the long road to recovery in the western part of the state in the wake of Hurricane Helene. And the Trump campaign has joined this conversation. Trump has spread conspiracy theories on social media. And in his first trip to North Carolina since it was hit by Helene, Trump said the federal government’s response to the devastating storm had been “terrible.”

This came despite federal responders having been working in Western North Carolina alongside their local and state counterparts.

The news release announcing Vance’s town hall said Vice President Kamala Harris “completely left North Carolinians behind in the wake of devastation post-Hurricane Helene,” indicating the town hall will likely also center on politicizing the hurricane response.

Over the past week, Trump and President Joe Biden’s teams have criticized each other’s past and current disaster relief efforts.

Democrats speak on Trump’s record responding to disasters

Ahead of Vance’s visit, Democrats held a virtual press conference to “call out Trump’s record of denying disaster aid to North Carolina and playing politics with disaster relief,” and Trump, Vance and Robinson’s “extreme Project 2025 agenda to gut future disaster relief and preparation,” according to a news release sent out by Democrats.

Project 2025 is a political initiative created by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. Democrats have said Trump and the GOP are behind the plan, and many of Trump’s former staff reportedly helped create it, but Trump has denied involvement.

“As President, Donald Trump cut $155 million from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, and denied North Carolina over $900 million in requested disaster aid after Hurricane Matthew struck our state,” said U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, according to the news release.

The $155 million number appears to be referring to the Trump administration’s intention to transfer $155 million from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to pay for transportation for adult migrants between detention centers and courtrooms.

As for the denied funds, the Trump administration initially denied most of a request for federal funds to respond to Hurricane Matthew in 2017, but later approved more aid.

Under the Dome

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